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Fastest Hero Alive Ch 13
Chapter Thirteen: Erika's a Real Snake-charmer It had been about 3 days since we left camp to reach the Underworld and we were currently passing into Arizona. We had made it through New Mexico with only a little trouble (if you consider a giant scorpion little) but all in all, we were making good time. Erika wanted to stop at the Petrified Forest National Park which wasn’t that out of our way as we were in the Painted Desert. She said she wanted to know if the petrified trees still had any life in them. It must have been a Demeter thing because looking at a bunch of rocks didn’t seem all that exciting. “Oh my gods, the mountains are so beautiful and there is still some life in this tree,” she said as she walked around looking at the information signs and felling the pieces of tree. “Are you happy now?” Malcolm said from the bench he was sitting on. “I don’t know how you find this to be fun; they’re just a bunch of rocks in the sand.” “They are not just a bunch of rocks, they are trees that have been here longer than any of us have been alive. They are wonderful and I wanted to see th…wait, I feel a strong pulls of natural energy,” and with that she walked off the trail and began to head toward whatever it was that she felt. Malcolm and I jumped up to follow her hoping that a park ranger didn’t see us or that we didn’t get attacked by a wild animal. “Oh wow, it is so beautiful and lively; I just want to take it home,” Erika said as she held on to the trunk of what once must have been a very large tree. “It won’t fit in the trunk Erika,” Malcolm joked as he went to catch his breath. “Now come on, we have a quest to complete.” Then we heard the sound of a low hiss coming from inside a nearby cave. “What hasssss wondered into my territory I wonder? Oh I ssssssssssssee, a few demigods,” the voice came. It was starting to get closer. “Shut your eyes!” I yelled. My first thought was that medusa had finally reformed somewhere out here instead of back at her shop in New York. If it was just a giant snake, it wouldn’t of been able to talk. “I think it is medusa, she must of reformed.” “Medusssa? Pleassse, don’t even compare me to that woman. It’sss her fault I’m like thisss. I couldn’t even look at thesssse treesss without turning them to stone. My name is Stheno!” said the snake woman. All three of us were trying to not to open our eyes while backing away. Stheno was bad news, she killed more people in her time then either of her sisters and many demigods hoped that she had faded away like Medusa had claimed. “Why are you walking away, stay awhile and we will have tonssss of fun,” hissed the lady as I felt a tail sweep out my feet from under me and I hit the ground. Malcolm heard me fall and fired an arrow in my direction. “I didn’t hit you, did I?” he said as he put another arrow in his bow. “Nope, and I don’t know where she is.” I said. The only thing I could hear was an occasional his or the sound of her brass claws banging together, but the sound was bouncing off the rocks so an exact location was hard to know. Malcolm had been shooting arrows at any sound he heard that wasn’t the two of us and I had whipped out my hammer doing the same. Erika had tried to grow a few long thorn vines to protect herself, but being in a desert the only thing she could manage were a patch of clovers. This monster was toying with us and we didn’t have anything on our side to help us. I kind of wish I hadn’t of given Aphrodite back her mirror because it would of helped right now. Stheno brushed past Erika which caused her to let out a small scream before the snake woman moved on. She was just circling us, trying to figure out which one she would eat first. I couldn’t even run around to fight because I would just end up running into something or someone. All her cards were hidden with all of ours in plain sight, but what could we do to stop her? Then I felt something small grow around my feet, I took a quick glance down and saw a small patch of clovers growing at my feet. “Erika, what are you doing?” I said. I still didn’t know where she was but then a soft hand grabbed my and we kept running until we bumped into Malcolm. “Follow me and hurry,” she said as she dragged us to who knows where. “Erika, don’t open your eyes. What if you get turned to stone?” Malcolm said. “Don’t worry, my eyes are closed. Just get ready to shoot straight ahead when I tell you.” Erika told him. We stopped at what could only be the giant tree trunk from earlier. “OK, just give me a second to concentrate.” I got ready to swing at anything that moved and I heard Malcolm place another arrow in his bow. “Thisss isss boring, I was hoping to kill you three one by one. Now that you’re in one place, I guesssss I’ll kill you now!” screamed Stheno as I could only imagine she was coming at us, but from what direction. “Erika, if you have a plan, now would be a good time to tell us,” I whispered to her. “Just a few more seconds,” she said back. I was pretty sure in a few more seconds we were going to be snake food I was still ready to attack. Then I felt this rumbling from under us and the sound of something huge burst out of the ground. “Got ya!” said Erika, “Alright, shoot now!” Malcolm fired his arrow straight ahead like she told him and we could tell it hit her, “NNNOOOO!” was the last thing she said before she turned to dust. When we opened our eyes, the desert area we had been fighting in has covered with tiny patches of clovers and one huge rocky vine coming out of the ground. “So what just happened?” I asked a little confused by the whole thing. “When I tried to make some thorns to protect me, I ended up only being able to make a patch of clovers. When she brushed by me, I could feel her move using the roots so I covered the field in the little weeds and found you two. When I pulled you back to this old tree, I used the life energy inside to create that huge vine and wrap her up when I felt her get close. Pretty smart huh?” “Great idea, using the simplest of plants to take down one of the strongest monsters. You could learn something from her Swift,” said Malcolm before turning back to Erika. “Let’s get out of here before another monster shows up or worse, the park rangers.” Chapter Fourteen: Here Kitty Kitty Kitty [[User:Darkcloud1111|''Darkcloud1111]] [[User talk:Darkcloud1111|'Fastest Hero Alive''']] Category:Fastest Hero Alive Category:Nolan Swift Series Category:Darkcloud1111 Category:Chapter Page